Red apron strings loose, eyes crimped with tired,holding a child against her chest,

someone who can record the feel of her heart beat,assure her she is living. Hungering in the dry oak.

Wintering in the garden.

Megan Merchant is the author of Gravel Ghosts, The Dark’s Humming (Glass Lyre Press), four chapbooks, and a forthcoming children’s book. She was awarded the 2016-2017 COG Literary Award and is an editor at The Comstock Review. You can find her work atmeganmerchant.wix.com/poet.